Jim Mora, Jr., emerged as a candidate for several defensive coordinator positions in the NFL over the past few weeks -- specifically, it seemed as if the Denver Broncos and Philadelphia Eagles were interested in his services and likely made offers to the former Falcons and Seahawks coach.

However, Mora's withdrawn his name for consideration for both of the jobs and will remain with the NFL Network.

It seems odd that Mora wouldn't want to get back into coaching right away, but there are a couple of factors to consider here.

With the Eagles, Sean McDermott was canned from the Philly gig because of "Jim Johnson's shadow" but there's a case to be didn't necessarily fail given the personnel he had. In Denver, Mora would be working with a defense in flux that's run by a coach (John Fox) who's defensive-minded, meaning Mora might not get as much control there as he'd like. And maybe Mora thinks the labor situation could create problems with preparing his team for the 2011 season.

Former Falcons and Seahawks coach Jim Mora spent Tuesday in Denver interviewing for the Broncos defensive coordinator job with John Fox, but he flew out of the Mile High City last night without a deal in place.

That’s according to the Denver Post, which writes the contract process for Mora might be more intricate because he’s a former head coach.

If the Mora hiring doesn’t work out, Fox could hire Mike Trgovac, who worked for Fox in Carolina and now coaches the defensive line in Green Bay.

It looks like new Broncos coach John Fox won't get much of a reprieve from poor off-field behavior by his players -- Laurence Maroney, a Broncos running back, was arrested in St. Louis on gun and drug charges.

That's according KMOV in St. Louis, who reports that Maroney is being "held on unlawful weapons charges and drug charges" after being pulled late Monday night in a car with three other men.

There was also some sort of high-speed chase going on near the car Maroney was in, but Maroney's publicist told KMOV that he wasn't in that car, and only behind the car in the chase "by pure coincidence."

That's a tough sell, but obviously there's still a lot to sift through on the judicial end before any judgment can be passed on Maroney in a court of law.

Unless Fox thinks Maroney's an absolute necessity to the 2011 Broncos running game -- and it's hard to figure how he would think that -- it wouldn't be surprising to see him cut loose by Denver if this police matter gets ugly at all.

Mike Singletary and Sean McDermott were both fired fairly unceremoniously after their team's seasons were (effectively) over. But they don't appear to be hurting for work too badly -- multiple reports Sunday indicate that the two defensive specialists should find a job in 2011 pretty easily.

And both gentlemen are in the mix to be a part of Ron Rivera's defensive crew in Carolina, apparently. Singletary as linebackers coach and McDermott as defensive coordinator.

Singletary, LaCanfora reports, is a possible candidate to replace Smith. The ex-Niners coach played with Rivera on the Bears, but he also played with Leslie Frazier there. And both Judd Zulgad of the Minnesota Star-Tribune and Darin Gantt of the Charlotte Observer noted on Twitter that they believe the Vikings are still in the lead to land Singletary. (Which, if you're a Panthers fan, is a shame, because Singletary getting a hold of Jon Beason, Dan Connor and James Anderson might equate to some stupid good production; see: Patrick Willis.)

McDermott is expected to get a look for the Panthers DC gig as well as with, ironically enough, Fox in Denver as the defensive coordinator. McDermott once interviewed for the Broncos' head coaching job, interestingly.

It's a shame, of course, since McDermott had been with the Eagles since 1998, gradually rising up the ranks of the coaching staff. In his time there, he worked with Rivera, who was linebackers coach with the Eagles from 1999-2003.

By contrast, new Broncos coach John Fox, in his introductory presser this afternoon, spit out a few one-liners, smiled easily and seemed awfully comfortable in his new element. In effect, he looked confident. Like he’s the guy who can turn around the organization. Like he’s the one – and maybe the only one – who could make it happen.

He certainly convinced John Elway of that.

“I’m excited,” Elway said before introducing Fox. “I really feel like we got our guy. He’s a dynamic leader. A guy that has energy and a guy that gets the most out of his players.”

To prove that, Elway said he received text messages from Fox's former players who told him how much they loved playing for Fox. Meanwhile, Fox said he was excited to start over after a forgetful 2010 in Carolina. And he looked the part.

“I wanted to jump back in and erase (2010),” Fox said. “It’d be no different if I was here and we finished with that same record. I’d be just as enthusiastic.”

There’s also the Tim Tebow question. How would Fox use him? Would they get along?

Turns out, Fox got to know him during last year’s lead-up to the Draft, and when the two went out to dinner, Tebow offered to pick up the check. Tebow, Fox said, is the only pre-draft player ever to offer that.

“I had a great privilege to meet with Tim Tebow and have dinner with him,” Fox said. “I had a great connection with him. I had a great talk with him (Thursday). The guy is a player. I’ve had a chance to review some tape of him from late in the season. I think he’s got work to do. He knows it. But one thing is that he’ll do whatever it takes. He’s got as good as intangibles as any athlete I’ve been around.”

Fox was also asked about his offensive philosophy.

“Being a defensive coach for most of my career, you understand what’s difficult to defend,” Fox said. “You see a lot of teams who have success offensively, you have to be able to do both (run and pass). You can’t be one dimensional. I don’t want to sit here and paint a picture where we’re not going to be creative and exciting. But you have to have to balance, because that’s been successful in the NFL.”

At first glance, new Browns coach Pat Shurmur doesn’t seem like much of a joker. In his introductory news conference this morning, he came across as controlled and matter-of-fact.

But when a reporter asked him if he would continue running the 3-4 defense or if he would move to a 4-3 defense, the former Rams offensive coordinator Shurmur responded, “There’s a defense?”

Other than that mildly amusing line, Shurmur seemed ready just to get started, saying, “I can’t wait to get off this dais and get to the task of assembling a staff.”

Though he didn’t get into specifics about potential coaches, it doesn’t seem likely Cleveland’s highest-profile assistant coach, defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, will stick around. Particularly since he might be headed to Dallas anyway.

A few highlights from Shurmur’s presser:

“You dream of the opportunity to be part of an organization such as this. ... As you talk about our team and the goals for this team, it’s very simple: our goal is to win the AFC North, to compete in the playoffs and win Super Bowls. Anything we talk about that doesn’t relate to winning, we’re getting distracted.”

Shurmur said he initially would be the one to call the plays on offense: “That really is the fun part for an offensive coach.”

On his potential starting QB: "Very impressed wth Colt McCoy. I think he has the skill set and the skills and abilities to be a fine player in this league"

Team president Mike Holmgren said new Broncos coach John Fox was on the list of candidates, but in the end, he wanted a coach with a background in offense.

And a bonus quote from Holmgren: "You just can’t keep changing things around here every two years. You can’t do that. My hope and prayer is that the changes stop and the growing and building begins. We took some strides last year. My hope is that this will be the coach for a long, long time.”

The Seattle Times breaks down Marshawn Lynch’s now-famous 67-yard TD run vs. the Saints. All eleven Seahawks who were on the field for that play were interviewed for this story. Good stuff if you like to know the inside scoop of what was happening during a specific play.

NFL.com’s Jason La Canfora reports that former Bills coach Dick Jauron will get a look at becoming Pat Shurmur’s defensive coordinator in Cleveland.

The drug charges against former Chargers safety Kevin Ellison have been dropped, and now he’s hoping he can return to the NFL and “show teams who I am again.” Apparently, he’s NOT the kind of guy who walks around with 100 Vicodin pills in his pocket without a prescription.

The Broncos have found their next head coach. After three days of trying to reach Denver and failing because of the weather conditions, former Panthers coach John Fox apparently made a good impression when he finally reached town, and he's been hired to coach the Broncos.

Wrote team executive vice president John Elway on his Twitter feed: “Coach Fox is a great fit for us not only with his coaching ability but also with his personality. He is a dynamic and proven leader who will energize our entire organization. John has coached great defenses, turned teams around and been to Super Bowls. We couldn’t be more excited to have him lead the Denver Broncos.”

The Fox hire is a big win for Denver, which has been on a roll lately. The Broncos hired the ever-popular Elway to head the personnel department, they kept the job search completely transparent for their fans and they hired the most-proven head coach that was on the market (not counting guys like Bill Cowher and Brian Billick, who aren’t really on the market at all).

Fox did wonderful things in Carolina, bringing a strong defense to the club and getting the team to a Super Bowl. He didn’t have much to work with in Carolina the past couple years, especially when it was clear Panthers owner Jerry Richardson was willing to let his contract run its course, but he remained a very respected head coach.

Unlike the Browns – who might have hired a solid guy today in Pat Shurmur while also bringing in a guy with almostn no name recognition – the Broncos should excite their fan base with this selection.

With just 10 minutes to reflect, this seems like a very good hire that could turn out to be worthy of turning around the entire organization.